Animal Mascots for Military: Marine Corps Bulldog

Animal Mascots

What is a mascot, anyhow? A mascot can be an animal ,
a person or even an object. It is thought that the mascot will bring
good luck. To what extent modern people expect their mascot to bring
luck or to what extent they just think it is good fun, I don’t know.

Whatever the case; military, universities, sports teams and
even companies with brand names have mascots.

The United States Marines have a bulldog for a mascot .
Major General Smedley Butler introduced the first marinemascot ,
which was named “Pvt. Jiggs,” who lived at the Marine barracks in Quantico. He
moved up in rank to Sergeant Major. A series of marine bulldogs followed as
mascots.

The 12th in a series is a mascot by the name of
“Chesty,” named after Marine Lieutenant general Lewis B. “Chesty.” Puller Jr.
Chesty lives at the Marine Corp barracks in Washington, D.C. and participates
in weekly parades.

JAG

The television series of a few years ago about Navy lawyers
had one show that dealt with the Marinebulldogmascot.
The dog had gotten loose and a neighbor was suing the Marines for “paternity”
of a litter of mongrel pups. It was an enjoyable comedy with the woman lawyer
Sarah trying to be serious about the lawsuit.

In addition to real animals as mascots there are also toy
animals and costumed actors as animals.

Meaning of Mascot

The word mascot goes back to dialect used in Provence and
Gascony. It described anything that brought luck to a household. In 1880 French
composer Edmond Audran wrote a comic operetta “La Mascotte.” The word had been
in use in France long before. Gamblers used it as a slang term derived from a
Occitan word masco, meaning “witch.’ The operetta was so popular that it
was translated into English as “The Mascot,” giving us a word for any animal,
person or object that brings good luck.

Choice of Mascots

The choice of a mascot is usually due to some quality the
mascot has that the group wants to identify with. For example sports teams want
to express their competitiveness by choosing warriors as mascot symbols.

In the United States there is controversy about mascot
choices. Some people object to the use of Native American Indians as mascots.
These people think there is something demeaning about it. Personally, I think
they should let the Indians decide whether they find it offensive. Some take it
as complimentary.

Source

Mascots in the British Army

Royal Regiment of Wales a goat mascot. Officially it
is not a goat but a soldier with rank. Lance Corporal William Windsor was
retired on 20 May 2009 and will be replaced Many British regiments have live
animal mascots. They appear in parades. The 95th Derbyshire Regiment
has a ram mascot, the Irish guard has an Irish wolfhound, and the Argyll has a
Shetland pony.

The earliest record of a mascot is a goat that belonged to
the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the 1775 American war of Independence. The mascots
often reflected the area where regiments were recruited like the Derbyshire
Ram, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Irish Wolfhound and Welsh Goats.

British Army classifies its mascots as either regimental
pets or regimental mascots. The first are unofficial mascots since the Army
doesn’t recognize them. The others are official mascots. Official mascots are
entitled to services of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. They also get shelter
and food at public expense. The army pays about $55,000 a year on its mascots.
The regiments or unit pays for its unofficial mascots or pets.

Those that have qualified as official mascots are the
antelope, goat, ram, horse, pony and dog.

The
Queens Royal Hussars

British
cavalry in ceremonials as part of regimental bands uses drum Horses. The
horses carry two kettledrums and a rider. The Drums are made of solid
silver requiring a sturdy horse to carry the weight. The Drum Horse
tradition dates back to the middle of the 18th century.

·
The royal Irish Regiment

In
1970 a Major Hayes on his
retirement presented an Irish Wolfhound, named Brian Boru I, as a mascot.

·
Irish Guards

The
Irish wolfhound was introduced to the regiment when the members of the
Irish Wolfhound Club presented a mascot hoping that it would help promote
the breed. The succeeding wolfhounds were named for Irish High Kings or
legendary chieftains.

Argyll
and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th battalion the royal regiment of
Scotland

Have
had Shetland Ponies as mascots since 1922.

The
Royal Welsh

Goat
mascots in the military date back 200 years. They are all called William
Windsor or Billy. They march in front of the battalion on all ceremonial
events.

Comments

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

5 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

torrilynn, thanks for commenting and voting. I'm glad that you found this hub about mascots inforamtive.

torrilynn

5 years ago

wow, quite interesting.

I never knew that the military had

mascots. thanks for the read.

Voted up.

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

5 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

Hi moonlake, glad you enjoyed this hub about the bulldog mascot. Thanks for commenting and sharing.

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

5 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

Hi moonlake, glad you enjoyed this hub about the bulldog mascot. Thanks for commenting and sharing.

moonlake

5 years agofrom America

Very interesting. Love the video. Well with sharing.

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

7 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Carolyn Moe

7 years ago

I love the German Shepherds that wear doggles... really cool looking... thanks for all the information.

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

7 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

I limited this hub to military mascots largely because to include sports would make a very large hub. I did find our after my early hubs to limit them in size.Thanks for your comments.

Peggy Woods

7 years agofrom Houston, Texas

Great article about animal mascots. Many sports teams also have mascots...some real and others just a person dressed up as one. Good advice you gave that person about checking at animal shelters or animal rescue leagues. Almost any type of dog can be acquired at places like that at a fraction the cost. Up and useful!

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

7 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

Glad you liked it. Thanks for reading it and commenting.

Denise Handlon

7 years agofrom North Carolina

Great subject. Enjoyed.

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

7 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

If I present something that informs and holds the readers interest, I feel I have3 accomplished something. Thanks for the comment.

prasetio30

7 years agofrom malang-indonesia

Well done, my friend. I love your presentation. I never knew about this before. But you gave more than information. Thanks for writing this. Rated up!

Prasetio,

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

7 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

Have you tried a rescue organization? There should be a Bulldog rescue somewhere near you.Thanks for the comment.

Laura Izett

7 years agofrom The Great Northwest

This was great- very interesting mascots you listed here. I know all too much about the Marine Bulldog. My husband is an ex-marine and he wants to get a bulldog, but we have yet to get one, especially at a hefty $2,000 price tag.

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

7 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

Thanks for commenting. the University of Minnesota has a gopher for its mascot but I am told that the picture is actually a chipmunk.

Truckstop Sally

7 years ago

So interesting to read the meaning/purpose of mascots. My school uses a dolphin for our good luck symbol. Smart creatures!

AUTHOR

Don A. Hoglund

7 years agofrom Wisconsin Rapids

suziecat

Thanks for reading it. Glad you liked it.

Robwrite

Dalmatians,

The Dalmatian seems to have an affinity for horses and have a calming effect on horses. In the 17th century they started being used as coach dogs and would be positioned off to the side and just back of the horses. Other dogs tended try to scare the horses and the Dalmatians would chase the other dogs away. Dalmatians would sleep with the horses and protect them against horse thieves.The spurts of running and then hours of inactivity tended to make the horses restless and the dogs helped keep them calm. Yes, even though horses are not used the dalmation is still the mascot of the fire departments. Thanks for the comment.

Rob

7 years agofrom Oviedo, FL

I love animal mascots. Is there any truth to that old cliché about fire departments and dalmations as mascots or is that only something from movies?

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)

Google AdSense Host API

This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Facebook Login

You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Maven

This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)

We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.

Conversion Tracking Pixels

We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.

Statistics

Author Google Analytics

This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)

Comscore

ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)

Amazon Tracking Pixel

Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)